The day started in darkness. The hotel had a power break just as I awoke and I had to dress in darkness. So with my pants on my head and my sweat shirt inside out I went down for breakfast.
After breakfast I went for a run to try to keep at least some semblance of fitness.
I was collected from the hotel at 14:00 and we then proceeded to pick-up two guys from the USA staying just down the road from me. Then we headed off to the north of Mendoza. There we found a range of mountains up to around 3,000 feet high. We joined another party of lunatics and headed, in two 4×4 utility trucks, up one of the mountains.
The track was very steep and strewn with boulders. Eventually we arrived at the launch area where our paragliding equipment was laid out.
Yes, at last I had found somewhere that I could try paragliding without having to go through various instruction courses or anything else. This was to be a tandem flight with experienced instructors from a height of 2,500 feet. The flight would last around 15 minutes.
The instructor showed me where to hold on, once they had pried my hands away from the flagpole holding the windsock. All I had to do was run across the ground and off the cliff!! Simple….and fantastically exhilarating. Once airborne it felt just as I imagine a bird of prey must feel.
This is another of my ambitions fulfilled and there are very few other things I can think of that will give me such an adrenaline rush as this.
On to Santiago tomorrow.